WE GOT TRAIN TICKETS TO GUILIN!!!!! (and some reflection)

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Ohhhhhhhhhmahhhhhgaaarrshhh. We got train tickets!!! Let me publicly say how awesome my head teachers are, for sitting in a room in front of a computer since this morning. So at least twelve hours. The way that you buy tickets in China is kind of dumb. Everyone gets put on a waitlist and then they manually select the people that they're going to give tickets to. We had planned on leaving next Saturday, but those were already completely booked. Instead, we're leaving Sunday. I am way okay with this. I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I might not be going to Guilin after all, and I was super bummed about that. But we officially have tickets and we are absolutely going :) Yay my life!

As if today needed help being more awesome, my kids were amazing today. They have been all this week, actually. Besides Monday... But I feel like Mondays and Fridays will always be hard. Monday still has some weekend left in it and Friday is off schedule. We made cat puppets out of paper bags. They had such a good time making them. I'm pretty impressed with all the things that I've come up with for them to make, and they've truly enjoyed them all.

Is it obvious that my homeroom is the craziest???

It's kinda funny how different I feel as a person since I started teaching. On the way home from the night market tonight, Megan and I were talking about how much more mature we felt. I have felt like an adult for a very long time, and I didn't think it would ever get any deeper. Then I came here and met my kids. I'm responsible for them. What I teach them will stay with them for forever. That means I will have a lasting impact on their entire life. How cool is that? Since I arrived in Changzhou, my world has literally been rocked. In an awesome way, I should add. Let me explain.

I live in a foreign country. I don't speak or read the language. I stand out every single place I go. There's no blending in for me. I take public transportation, even though I can't read or understand the language, and I have always made it to my ultimate destination. My horizons have exploded since I got here. Not widened or broadened, but exploded. Three weeks into this adventure (next week will be the one month mark... what?!?!?), I have a new sense of confidence. I feel comfortable in a foreign country. I can survive outside my element, my culture, my country, and my comfort zone. That feels pretty damn amazing, if I do say so myself.

Hey, life. Got any lemons? Cause my pitcher is ready to go :)

We found this humongous caterpillar on the way to the night market. He was probably 3 inches long! I should have captured him and sold him at the night market. I probably could have gotten a couple kuai from someone who wanted to fry him.